A MAN has defied all the odds after falling 50ft into the sea from treacherous cliffs in Purbeck and then coolly walking away with barely a scratch.

Shocked onlookers rushed to help the victim, thought to be in his twenties or thirties, after he plunged into the sea at Winspit yesterday.

The former stone quarry is a firm favourite with climbers, but it is unclear whether the victim was climbing or just an interested onlooker.

While one climber sprinted a mile into Worth Matravers to raise the alarm, just after 11am, others managed to quickly descend the cliffs and haul him out of the surf.

The coastguard scrambled its rescue helicopter from Portland and lifeboats from Swanage and Weymouth rushed to the scene.

But helicopter medics were stunned when the man refused all treatment, thanked everyone for their help and simply walked away. A Coastguard spokesman said: "It's fair to say he was extremely lucky not to have been seriously injured or worse.

"There are normally a lot of climbers in the area and they rushed to this man's aid and managed to get him out of the sea.

"We don't have many of his details, as he refused any treatment at the scene and walked off.

"The area is quite isolated and there is no mobile phone coverage, so someone ran into the village until they got a good enough signal to call the coastguard.

This is quite a distance to cover.

"We immediately scrambled the helicopter, but by the time we arrived he had been pulled out of the sea."

There are numerous rocky outcrops jutting from the cliffs that could prove fatal to falling climbers, and hitting water from 50ft can feel like hitting concrete.

The coastguard spokesman added: "We had boats on standby in case this became a rescue at sea but thankfully they were not needed."